Over twenty years ago, on another playground a sweet little red-headed girl with the biggest blue eyes became my heart friend. The best conversations happen on the playground. That’s where true friendships are formed. The lasting kind. My little red-headed friend is now almost 30 with a beautiful life all her own. She is earning her doctorate at University of North Carolina to help little children. We remain heart friends to this day. It doesn’t get better than that, or so I thought.
It has been a long six weeks, as I now enter the 7th. I have decided the sixth week is so bad because the brain is turning to mush. At week 7, the numbness sets in as the expectations and requirements bury a teacher in e-mails and paperwork. This is why recess is so vital. I’m pretty sure my littles feel the same.
If the weather permits, I take the long walk across the gravel playground to the lawn. Beautiful, lush, green and inviting lawn. There are the lawn kids. The monkey bar kids. The basketball kids. The tree kids. I prefer to be with the lawn kids. The kind that look deep into the grass to discover the life of the roly-poly. Roly-poly’s are those little bugs (not real bugs) that roll into little balls. Heck, they fascinate me, too.
There are those that are itching to do their summersaults and cartwheels. The football kids. The runners. The lawn lovers. I fit in the last category. I love lawn, and our school has the most beautiful lawn anywhere around.
As I was walking over the gravel to the lawn (a good walk for an old gal), a very quiet and lovely young girl joined me. She is struggling in 1st grade, slowly catching up, but struggling. Quiet and shy, it takes a lot for her to find her voice, so I was pleased that she decided to take the long walk beside me.
She began speaking about her beloved Grandmother and how much she loves being with her. Grandmother helps her with everything that grandmother’s do. They love doing math together. They read together and have a blast playing. In our conversation it became obvious that she adores this woman she calls “Grandma”.
We were almost to the lawn when she started to talk about her spiritual growth with Grandma. The sweetest things can be learned in the quiet of a walk together.
“Mrs. Hurt, my Grandma is teaching me all about Jesus. Do you know who Jesus is, Mrs. Hurt?”
In a school setting, this subject came from left field in just the way I needed. It was a jolt to my system. Here was a child making sure her teacher believed in Jesus. In 22 years, this conversation has never been one I’ve had with a student. With such a faint voice, I wondered if I had heard her correctly, but of course I had.
“Yes. Of course. I believe in Jesus. Couldn’t get through the day without him.”
This was so strange, I wondered if this was a set up? Was there someone behind us, listening? But no, just brilliantly blue little eyes looking up at me with the purest of hearts. In that very moment, I had to smile, knowing God has always brought me to the children I needed. Littles that would teach me as much as I would teach them. Probably more.
We discussed the churches we attend. Grandma takes her to two different places. At one point two other little girls joined us, but were disinterested in our conversation and left. A good thing because I can’t be holding seminary on the school playground, as much as I might like to.
Recess was different yesterday. Something changed. I’ve been praying for angels to surround my classroom to take away the heat. I’ve asked them to shield the doorway, keeping away those with ill intent. I never expected a pint sized Evangelist to council me on the way to the lawn under a perfectly glorious desert sky.
Miracles surround us every day. The smallest little things occur that many people might miss. I could’ve been talking to another teacher or blowing my whistle to stop unwanted behaviors. I could’ve been tending to a scraped knee or listening to a tattle, but I wasn’t. I was listening to my little as she asked me an important question.
Boy am I glad I knew the answer!
“Yes. Of course. I believe in Jesus. Couldn’t get through the day without him.”
More tomorrow.